Holiday part 2

We checked into our hotel at 5.30am after our dreadful flight. We had a shower and a cup of tea and then went to bed. I can't remember when last I went to bed at 6am in the morning! I woke up around 9.30am and we had coffee and checked our emails. I woke the boys up around 11am - they wanted breakfast! We met my friend Tracy Palmer for lunch. Then she and I and her lovely children walked around. I took this photo of the Sky Tower (standing at the base looking up) that I've wanted to take for a long time.

Friday morning we got up and headed for Devonport on the ferry to have brunch

The first building walking up from the ferry

After breakfast, the boys went to the library to use the free internet and I walked up and down and looked in all the shops. What a wonderful morning I had! This photo is looking down from the top of the street

On the ferry on the way back

On the waterfront is the count down to the Rugby World Cup 2011
Then we went to MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology)

Trains ..... of course

The tram that travelled from Motat to the Aviation building

At the Aviation building

On the way back from the Aviation building, the tram was really full. At the Zoo, a mom and two young children got in. Straight away Ross stood up so that she could sit. I was so proud of him!

Holiday report part 1 Samoa

We stayed at Aggie Grey's hotel in Apia. Flowers on the bed when we arrived ... also on the dressing table and in the bathroom. Love tropical flowers!
We ordered a plate of hot chips one day and the tomato sauce arrived in a shell!

More flowers - these were very different

Wednesday night is FiaFia dancing

Adrian on the veranda of our Fale. We had our morning coffee out there every morning

Cocktails at the pool with the boys in the pool

Me against a tree at the marine reserve

The boys at the same tree

The beach at the marine reserve

Adrian and Colin in the water at the marine reserve - they had a wonderful time and saw lots. They went back another day and spent hours there. On the way back, Adrian stopped and bought a beer for himself and Colin ... Colin was quite surprised

The younger Aggie Grey and me

The boys in the pool. We spent most of our time at the pool relaxing and moving with the shade - in 30°C temperatures we had to follow the shade! When we got too hot, we got in the pool

The front of the hotel

Waiting at the airport after we were bumped off our AirNZ flight back to Auckland

Talofa lava

Yes - I'm having a GREAT time!! be back later in the week with more updates

Holidays!

Two weeks of freedom ... unless you count the two sets of marking I have to do :-( One set is just a re-mark ...... irritating but not too long and the other set is going to take quite a while to mark.

Colin and I finished our pamphlet delivery today: between us we had six local areas to deliver local body candidate's election pamflets. Much of it was up hill and down dale so we came home exhausted. It is all fundraising for our trip to China next year. Tomorrow we have to head for the shops for footwear and underwear for two growing boys.

Monday I have a list of places to take my Mother and Tuesday we have a double appointment to the hairdresser. Then Wednesday we head to Samoa for a week in the sun!! So exciting and the hardest decision I am going to make is whether I should have a blue drink or green drink! AFter that we have a couple of nights in Auckland and then home.

I'm feeling very lucky: this was an entry at Scrappin' Patch and I won the lucky draw

And this was another entry there and I won this lucky draw too!
This was the last week of the SBO competition to use Maori designs. I love this photo of Colin on the Wellington waterfront taken in 2006 So, should I buy a Lotto ticket or hope that I win the ScrapBox prize? :-) Probably more probability of winning the ScrapBox one than Lotto so I'll stick with that one.

Then, on 16th September, it was the Music Festival - Tawa Goes to Town. All the schools, as well as the rest of the community are invited to take part in a two hour music festival in the Michael Fowler centre in Wellington ... hence Tawa goes to Town! Both Ross and Adrian took part:

About 750 people ....

the tenors and sopranos from College

The men
The men, tenors and sopranos

One week to go

..... to school holidays that is and I really need the break. This has been a tough term for me.


I took my dad back to the specialist at the hospital on Wednesday and he was running 100 minutes late - yes, that's not an extra 0 there. We have to watch his foot for any big changes or if he gets a fever and then we have to go straight to A&E as the operation will have to happen then. Then we went to see Malvina Major and while my Mom really liked it, she felt it may end up being too expensive, so we'll keep looking at other places.

I went scrapping yesterday and this is one of the l/os I did. I'm hoping that there is enough green and orange for a challenge but if there isn't, it doesn't matter. Another old photo scrapped!



The Nine week competition at SBO is nearly at an end. This is my l/o for Week 7 which was Sport
This is its companion that I entered at The ScrapBox, but I wasn't the winner there .... next time!

On 16th October, I am hosting (hostessing?) a charity crop and all proceeds will go to the Christchurch Mayoralty Fund for earthquake victims. There are at least two other crops happening in NZ on the same day for the same charity - rather cool, I think! Making Memories have sent a Slice to raffle and I will be selling those tickets nationwide. There will be gifts and lucky draws every hour and a min BYO class! So looking forward to it

Weekly update

Last week's challenge at SBO was to use an NZ song title. Really not my scene as I think it's very contrived. Anyway, in my sleep-deprived, stressed state I flicked through the Top 100 NZ song titles and a word entered my head. Flicking through my photos I found a photo of the boys in front of Jaws taken the first time we went to the US. perfect, I thought, that fits my song "Shark" perfectly. I cut the mat c/s with a deckle edge scissors to represent the shark's teeth and then just placed it all randomly. I went to upload my l/o and thought I'd better add the artist's name. No, it wasn't "Shark" I saw, but "Whaling"! Argh! I was so upset and lost the plot at that point. Anyway, I went off to the hospital with my Mom and the rest of the family joined us later for lunch. When I came home, I searched the web and found two NZ folk songs with the word "Shark" in them and the title of one was "She'll be Right" - perfect under the circumstances!

Then, last Saturday a 7.1 Magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch at 4.35am in the morning. Apparently it was felt here, but we didn't feel it. Thankfully it wasn't 12 hours earlier or the loss of life and injuries would have been huge with all the glass that shattered. Since then, there have been over 400 aftershocks causing many people to really stress about them.

On 16th October, two South Island scrapbook shops are having charity crops for the Earthquake Fund and I'm also organising one here!

Finally my Dad goes back to the specialist on Wednesday and I really think he will be put into hospital and his foot will be amputated. I have been very worried because we go off on holiday in 12 days and then there is no one here to take care of my parents. Today I nearly cried with relief - friends of my parents who live in Chch left for a few weeks as the quakes were really stressing them out and they have said they will come and live in our house and look after my parents for us! We are also going to look at Malvina Major retirement village on Wednesday as my Mom will not be able to cope by herself. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers

Maybe just for me

9 September
Really feeling like I have little children again: today I got a phone call from my Mom to say there was water leaking in the kitchen and could I please go and look. Went down there and the towel she had down was soaked. Got #1 son and he helped unpack the cupboards to await the arrival of the plumber. My Mom was very distressed about it all. I wanted to know where the main tap was - she had no idea. Out of the blue, my Dad remembered so we turned that off. The plumber has made a temporary repair and will be back tomorrow.

Next week we have to go back to the specialists for my Dad's foot - in my opinion it is getting bad quite quickly and I think that he will be put in hospital and an amputation just below the knee will happen sooner rather than later. Then I will need to take them to visit Malvina Major retirement centre because there is no way they could live by themselves after that. Where do I fit all of this in?

6 September
Dad is home! We have to go back in two weeks for a re-assessment and in the long term he will have to lose his leg below the knee but we will have to make other living arrangements before that happens. I am very pleased that he is home as this has been very draining for me

5 September
My Dad is still in hospital and we think that he will lose three toes early this week. Father's Day lunch was fun at the Wishbone cafe in the hospital!

4 September 8pm
What to do, what to do?? Need to make a decision regarding my dad's toes/feet

4 September
The angioplasty appears to have been a success as his foot is looking a lot better. He will at some point lose his big toe and the next two along and even possibly his whole foot. For now, they will just mangage it until it becomes too painful

2 September 7.30pm
Dad had an angiogram/angioplasty today and it appears to have worked well. He is still on a drip with strong antibiotics. The doctors will remove the second and third toes possibly tomorrow . Not sure when he'll be home though. Thank you to all of you for your emails and texts

2 September
Been awake since 5am. Decided to get up at 6am. Should be marking

31 August
Please keep my Dad (and my Mom) in your thoughts. Tomorrow he has an appointment with the vascular surgeon. He has two gangrene toes and has to have the artery in his right leg opened. I am worried for/about him; but also my Mom who carries all of this

The week that has passed in a blur

I have been taking my Dad to the doctor for his feet for the past month or so. On Wednesday 25th August, the GP was very unhappy with his toes which looked as if they had gangrene. The GP phoned the vascular surgeon who arranged for an emergency appointment on Wednesday 1 September. The surgeon sent us for blood tests, an ECG and X-Rays and then booked him into a ward. On Thursday Dad had a successful angiogram and angioplasty. He's been in hospital since then on very strong antibiotics to help his feet. He is going to have to have three toes removed and we've asked for it to be sooner not later.

Today was also Father's Day and so we had our Father's Day lunch in the Wishbone cafe at the hospital!

Colin's soccer team had their end-of-season function yesterday at Strike (ten pin bowling). Colin was runner up Most Improved Player

It has been very hectic and very stressful for me - I get up, go to school, go to the hospital (which is 35 minutes away) and then stay there until around 6pm when the doctors have been, and then bring my Mom home. She goes in with Adrian in the morning so she has a very long day there

Onto some scrapping - last week at SBO was Water and Beaches and so this is my entry:

This week is to use a song title and that has caused me endless drama but I've done mine now. I'm a bit unhappy about the competition as some of the rules have been bent and a few unprofessional things have happened - anyway, I'll continue

And so on to this week which is shaping up to be a week spent at school and the hospital!

Winners; 16 year old; scrapping

Yesterday was College Sport finals. Our U15B team played Wellington College. Last time we played them in a bog and they beat us 5- 4. We went into the game as the underdogs and scored very quickly. Then they scored. Final score: 6 - 1 to us!! Oh the team was so excited and the coach said that in his 16 years of coaching he'd never had a team who'd won a medal. All was well in the football world last night

Then today we had Ross' 16th birthday party. It poured with rain and all our plans were for outside :-( I booked the gym (aka as the Recreation Centre) and 20 teenagers spent an hour there playing and having fun. Then we came home for a scavenger hunt/amazing race type activity. By the time they finished it was 6pm and loads of fish and chips arrived. They tucked in and then watched a movie. After the movie, it was ice-cream cake. I found a Pirate theme one - Ross complained - I told him he was lucky he didn't get the Barbie one!

As much as it was exhausting having all these loud teenager haring around, I'm so lucky that I have a teenager who wants FUN rather than the teenager across the road whose 16th had alcohol, gate-crashers, sex, and the police - all before 11pm

Then last week's SBO competition was "white space" ie clear space. I am getting through lots of old photos and I do like this one

And then tomorrow we have the day off! Yes, I will still have some teenagers here after a sleep over (boys only). Then I want to take my Mom grocery shopping and will possibly take my Mom and Dad out for lunch. My Dad has to see a vascular specialist on Wednesday as his right leg artery is very blocked. He also has the start of gangrene in his toes so has to have them amputated. Please spare some healing thoughts for him and especially my Mom who carries all the worry. I have taken the day off in order to be with them whatever happens.

22nd August

Eighteen years and 13 of them in NZ! Seems like a long time but actually it's gone very quickly. Happy anniversary to my hubby. I'm finishing off the crayfish that Irene gave me for my mom and I and the rest will have roast pork for lunch. We celebrated a few weeks ago by having dinner at Monsoon Poon and then going to the NZ Symphony Orchestra for a night of Rogers and Hammerstein

Then tomorrow I am the mother of a 16year old! How did that happen? Happy birthday to Ross. He wants tacos for dinner tomorrow night and is having a party next Sunday. He starts Trial exams tomorrow so he's not impressed!

The competition at SBO last week was to use wire on a l/o! Here's my entry: The bit of wire is some garden mesh like stuff that I found out side in the garden last weekend. This week is to use negative or white space ie leaving lots of blank space. I am getting through lots of old photos!

This week's news

Ross' girlfriend broke up with him! No, he wasn't heartbroken at all, in fact I don't think he thought too much about it at all. I did actually wonder how important they were to each other adn it seems that I was right ... not too important at all! More a case of, "I've got a girlfriend/boyfriend" for both of them.

We went to Camp Quality this weekend to do all the catering for 19 cancer kids and 9 adult helpers. It was great fun even though we worked really hard. The only downside is that we suspect that one of the kids stole Colin's PSP - he is very unhappy about it. We're hoping that the boy will have an attack of the guilts and return it somehow.

Some more l/os: this one is for the Scrappin' Patch Week 5 - Stacey Michaud's style. The photo is of Colin and was teken in early 1998 just after we got here


The next one is for Scrapbook Outlet and was for the Black & White challenge. I did wonder what photo I could use (it didn't have to be black & white) and this one was perfect. Our three cats together - the only photo we have of them all together and sadly two are now gone.

The next challenge at SBO is to use wire .... I managed and will post it next weekend. I have given up at SP as this week is so not my style that I wasn't even prepared to try!

Praise

On Friday I was talking to my Year 11 class about our plans for the rest of the academic year ... only 10.5 weeks left. Out of the blue, one of the girls put up her hand. She said to me, "Miss, you have prepared me better for my exams and tests than any other teacher I have ever had." Boy, was I humbled.

Today I was at school, supervising a couple of kids who were selling fund-raising lollies. A Dad came in and said hello to me. He then said, "I hear from the kids that you are the best teacher to have." Again, I was humbled

Gosh, I'm feeling good about what I do

Scrapping

I joined up at two competitions: at Scrappin' Patch where the competition is to scrap like a chosen star. Then the best three are chosen each week and the person with the most points will win a cricut. Now I know I'm NEVER going to be the best and having done three l/os (which I mostly like) I think I'm going to bow out gracefully as it does stress me a bit. This is the last one:

Then at Scrapbook Outlet there is a Kiwi - Ana competition ... also collecting points; however, one prize will be given to the highest score and the other two prizes will be a draw from those who get more than 100 points: 12 points for a l/o and one point for each Kiwi related question that is answered. So far I have entered one l/o (12 points) and answered five questions correctly (1 point each). Week 1 was to use Kiwi Icons and I have had these photos floating around for about a year. Another six weeks of l/os to go and possibly 26 questions

Week 2 is black and white and mine's completed and I'm very happy with it - I will add it next weekend.

In my opinion, it is much better to have a lucky draw competition as the playing field is even ... there are the designer people in NZ and honestly, I have NO hope of competing against them - it's like putting me against the Olympic 100m champion - no point really. Oh, and I have another small complaint but I'll keep quiet on that one for now!

Neglected blog. Girlfriend. SIL

Tonight I was scrapping some photos of the total lunar eclipse from a few years back and could not remember the year. I scrolled back through my blog and there it was - I was so pleased! I promise not to neglect this blog so much. I had also put the photos down in the wrong order so I was pleased to correct that. I did two l/os today, both of them for competitions so will edit this next weekend to add them.

We had such a successful day today: we had to find some vinyl flooring for the bathroom downstairs. Both Adrian and I had looked at various places and Adrian found some that he liked ..... @ $300 per metre! Now we only need about 1.5metre anyway. We had decided that would would go to all the flooring places we could find today. First stop was a place at the back of the shops that Colin reminded us about. There they had a perfect off-cut - for $66! We didn't complain. Then everything else we did just flowed smoothly. I got a few new kitchen implements: potato masher, hand beater and a tin opener. I also bought some muffin pans (mine are rusting and so must go in the recycling).

We have to go out around 10.30pm to collect Ross from his girlfriend - she lives on the other side of Wellington about 35minutes away and they met at a lawn bowls tournament. She is just as academic as is he; in fact, I think more so, and knows exactly where she's going. We are very pleased about that

Monday is my SIL's 50th birthday party so there is a small party Saturday night for her. My niece has made an album for her and I have sent a couple of l/os. This one is the two of us; the photo is not that great as I took it through the plastic protector and didn't take another one



and this one is a family one

I also sent Kylie some photos so I am looking forward to seeing what she has done with those.

Animals

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run or fly from the group, flying over the green grass or through branches, his legs or wings carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

Speckles 14th July

Thomas (in front) 26th July
Sally (at the back) 7th January Such a bad year for us and our pets